Elements Of Catastrophe
by MaryChuu
Summary: A sudden Meteor shower in the Earth sets fire to Fuuka's University where Natsuki Kuga studies. During the fire Natsuki saves Shizuru, her classmate, and first hears about the legend from a friend of the girl. There were stories that used to speak about a legend being fulfilled after the sky turns red. Are the Elements of nature real?


So, I used to have this weird idea on my mind for the last months, and it popped again before I go to sleep last night. Thus I decided to write it down instead of sleeping. I would never thought of writing a fanfiction about it, but hey imagination can turn to a story right?

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the characters in here, of course :P

**Ch1:** "Wake up Call"

This is a usual afternoon at the University of Fuuka. In this city, one of the biggest campuses is located. It contains a lot of departments for different proffesions, like Medicine or Archeology Departments among them.

The Enviroment & Biology Department is open all the day, and one of the most demanding as well. It was around 8 pm and a small group of students were still inside the building, handing down their papaers to the proffesor.

"Agh... Why do you always have to be the first to hand your paper to the professor?" Natsuki muttered to her friend Mai. They, among with other students, were waiting to hand their work to the proffesor.

"That's because I always get one of the highest scores in my paper. Mr. yamamoto's rules, you already knew that!" Mai winked at the frustrated girl on her usual confident smile. It was true, the orange haired student was a hard working person and very dedicated to her studies. Natsuki on the other hand, was very smart, but just couldn't devote so much time on her student work. Her scores were average, but she still could manage to pass most due to her fast learning abillities.

"It was more of a rhetorical question..." the navy haired answered, looking bothered by Mai's teasing. " Besides, when you leave I will be left alone with her again." she clarified, turning her eyes discretely to another girl in front of them. "Why is she here anyway? She always gets one of the highest scores as well." the bluenette asked obviously bothered by that girl's presence.

"I heard that Fujino-san missed last Monday's class, so she couldn't handle as good paper as she usually does." Mai informed her friend by whispering the gossip.

"Mai Tokiha." the professor called the girl's name.

"Looks like I'm next. Be patient Nat, I'll see you tonight on the pub, ok?"

"O-Ok..." Natsuki just mumbled, folding her arms. When the professor called her friend's name, the bluenette sighed.

'_Great, I'm left here waiting again.' _she thought. '_And did she had to be here too?' _Natsuki muttered to herself, watching Mai leaving, while giving a quick angry pick at the girl who was the reason of her annoyance. She folded her arms, as a defensive response by the sight of those chestnut hair.

Shizuru, despite seemingly not caring about the girl's presence, suddenly turned to Natsuki's direction. The bluenette was caught of guard when the crimson met her eyes, and turned away immediately. She stopped an angry blush from forming on her cheecks just in time. The brunette didn't avert her gaze for some seconds, standing there, watching her beautiful navy haired classmate. A subtle sadness was formed on her slight frown.

'_How did we get to this...Natsuki...' _Shizuru sighed. They used to talk and even hang out, but now they have become just like strangers.

"The professor always gets a lot of time for each paper in his office" a guy near the brunette muttered to his friend.

"I'm in the middle, so that means I have to wait at least half an hour." his friend responded, sympathizing to the guy's complain.

After twenty five minutes, it was finally Natsuki's turn.

"Natsuki Kuga." the professor called. The bluenette face enganged in a -it was about time- expression, before heading to the office. She passed close to the brunette as if there was noone on this place,completely ignoring her presence. She was surprised though, how Shizuru's turn was after hers. This was the first time happening, as the girl's grades were always high, making her one of the first to be called on.

"Nice back Kuga!" a guy said while she was walking. Natsuki frowned but didn't turn. She instead ignored him, as she got inside the office.

0~0

FLASHBACK

Natsuki was used to people teasing her. Especially guys. She was focused more on her studies, instead of wasting precious time to pointless friendships. Of course that was a learned lesson, not something innate. When she first came to Fuuka to study, she tried to make a few connections, but all ended up mistreating her. She may seemed cold, but deep down didn't like the loneliness. That need led her meating the wrong people. She was kind hearted, and people took advantage of it, calling her only when they needed something from her, like notes and other stuff.

There was this party being conducted at the big house of student, Tomoe Marguerite. It was one of the biggest parties of the year, as Tomoe's father was a very rich man and he could fund just about anything his daughter wished. It was a pool party with music and alcohol. Everyone was invited and people were already calling it the coolest pool party of the year.

Natsuki used to stay in her house a lot, going out only for her class or a walk was what she used to do more because she didn't have any friends at the time. The monotony of it though, wasn't very pleasant even for a loner like her. After receiving an invitation for that party, she finally gatherred the courage to attend it.

She wore the best of clothes she could find in her wardrope (though, still not that great) and rode with her bike to the place where everyone was going to party that night. Tomoe Marguerite already knew her from the classes, but that wasn't the real reason she had invited the girll on her party. After talking to her so kindly, she tried to get her drunk. The green haired girl had promised her male friends of Natsuki being available that night. Her plan failed though, because she wasn't aware of one factor. Natsuki could never get drunk, no matter how much alcohol she would consume.

When the guys thought that she was ready for them to have fun, she snapped at them on trying to touch her. They tried to force her, in front of the rest of the people, but a girl got in the way. It was Shizuru Fujino. A girl from their classes, who was a very beautiful and composed person.

"I think you can't touch Kuga-san." she informed the as calm as possible. The guys laughed and gave her a warning look that if she didn't get away, she would have the same fate as the bluenette. Shizuru, wouldn't move, and after some moments they couldn't wait any longer. A guy put his hands on the brunette as his friends were cheering him up.

Watching that the guys were distracted with the girl, Natsuki took the opportunity to call the police. After informing them about it, they got angry and lost control. A dark haired guy forced himself on Shizuru more, but a death glare gave him the chills.

"If you don't let that girl alone, I promise you, that you will spend your entire life in the jail. My father is so powerful, it's so easy for him to do this." Tomoe informed him.

"Why? Do you care about Fujino?!" the guy asked, in a more demanding way that he should.

"As you heard Miss Kuga," she said, giving a smirk at the bluenette. Natsuki's cheeks were red from anger and her hair messy. "the police is coming here." she finished. "I don't want my party's reputation to be ruined by this incident. If the cops come here and witness this your names as well as mine, are going to be in the news tommow." she said on this smart way to manipulate them. Her father could easily pay the press to silence the incident though so her reputation wasn't really the case. It was effective though and soon the crowd left the girls alone.

That was how Natsuki met Shizuru on personal for the first time. Despite seeing the girl in class, they had never talked before. After that incident though, Natsuki felt like the brunette had literally saved her. Soon, the guys were dispersed as if nothing happened and they kept of partying.

"I'm leaving." The bluenette informed Shizuru. "Th-Thanks a lot...you literally saved-"

"Don't mention." the chestnut haired girl interrupted. "I couldn't let something so hideous to happen"

"S-So, I taking my bike to go home. D-Do you want me to drop you off to your house too?" she asked " Actually no, I will drop you off. I'm not taking no for an answer. You are not safe to walk by yourself in the street at this time, especially now that this happened to me..."

"It's fine." Shizuru agree, giving a warm and sleepy smile. "Besides," she put her hans behind her head as if in a position of sleeping " I wouldn't like to walk to my house alone too."

The two girls mounted the bike and Natsuki dropped the brunette at her home safe.

After that they would occasionaly talk in the class or sometimes hang at the campus pub. The year passed like that without anything like that incident happening again. Natsuki though had changed. Her already inability to trust people was even more reinforced at those experiences with people in there. Second year, she was paired with Mai for a paper work regarding the polution on Fuuka's lake. Despite watching the girl in the class, they had never talked before. That wasn't a surprise anyway, because Natsuki wouldn't talk to anyone in there. After being forced to hang out with mai, the bluenette discovered that the girl was a rare case. She was genuinely kind and a good intentioned person. After the end of that semester, they were hanging out besides school. Mai was Natsuki's first and true friend who cared for her in there.

Shizuru had already her own friends and admirers, but she would still spent time with Natsuki. It wasn't so often though, and as soon as the brunette got a boyfriend they drifted apart. Natsuki thought that Shizuru was acting different, as if she wasn't her true self anymore. That was something that made her upset to a point, but she would stop her self from becoming τοο involved in the girl's life. After not answering some calls, Shizuru knew she had lost her touch with Natsuki. Eventually, they were acting like they didn't know each other.

0~0

After twenty minutes of discussing her work with the professor, Natsuki was finally free for the evening to spent with her friends. The second girl in their company was going to be there too. Nao was studying in the same department as Natsuki and Mai, but her attendance in classes was pretty low. That was mostly due to her working double swifts to pay her house rent. After her mom's death she had noone to relate on for financial support. maybe that's why Natsuki and Nao bonded on first place. They both were in the same situation as their mothers were dead. Natsuki didn't have to work though. Back when she was in Highschool, she had won a Math Competition which earned her the ticket to her scholarship from Japan's goverment.

Natsuki got out from the office and she walked past the brunette. Of course she didn't look at her, but she could feel the tension being emitted from the girl. Why would she bother with her after so long anyway...

As she finally went out of the class relieved, she finally sighed and kept on walking, while typing a message on her phone to Mai.

She stopped outside the big building and stared at the sky before sending the text to her friend. Her emerald eyes observed very carefully the sky and its color.

"It's unusually red..." she mumbled.

Forgetting about the message she had to send, the bluenette walked towards some big stairs that were leading to the bus station when...

"AGH...!" she screamed as she felt the ground trembling under her feet.

Natsuki ran towards an open area where there weren't any big objects around that could hit her if they fell. Suddenly a lightning of pain pierced her heart, making her to bend down on her knees, grabbing her head with both of her hands. The ground kept of shaking, as it now seemed that the volume was becoming stronger by each passing second. The girl was becoming even more scared, but not only from the ongoing earthquake.

Suddenly, a very quick image, which looked like nothing more than a mere red painting passed through her eyes.

"That's..."

...CRACK!...

A very loud thud was sounded as the sky was bleeding red. It was definitely something enormous that had hit the building behind her. She quickly looked back...

Despite looking at it with her own eyes, she still couldn't believe it.

"A-A meteorite!?" she mumbled on shock, widening her eyes...

Natsuki tried to get up but the fear was paralyzing her. That giant piece of rock was actually on fire! Black smokes could be seen coming out of the building. In a matter of seconds, the fire had already started to consume the the Enviroment & Biology Department's old walls. An image of the people being consumed by the fire broke her from that fearfull oblivion.

"Sh-Shizu...SHIT!" she coursed, trying to keep the tears that that were trying to escape from her eyes. She started running towards the flames, while the sky was indicating that something was going very wrong. The flames were almost in the middle of the building. She had to hurry.

When she came to the entrance, the door couldn't open. It was cracked by the colission.

"KUSO!" the bluenette was moving the door hanlde up and down, but to no avail. A big screech was heard- a mallice indicator of the fire descending even lower. The adrenaline tensed the girl's muscles to a point of physical pain. She could use it to her benefit...

A big kick and the door was finally open.

Natsuki tensed up, as she felt the hot air suffocating her just by taking only a few steps. She scanned the area searching for any sign of the people that were inside the building before the fire. Nothing. She made a quick calculation between the fall of the meteorite and how long it takes to get out of a flaming building and it was obvious. No one would be able to get out by then. They were probably be near the class and maybe fainted by the fire gasses, if not trapped inside their torturous doom.

"Sh-Shizuru..." the girl mumbled again. Her survival instincts were demanding to get the hell out of that wrecking place. But she couldn't...How could she sleep at night after letting all of these people helpless...

She wet a piece of fabric from her bag and binded really tight around her nose and mouth. That way, she would avoid inhaling the gasses from the fire, so she could stay concious and well, alive. The fire was getting down even more, but the building was big enough until the flames consued the last floors. After trying to calm her heart rate a little without any success, she ran quickly upstairs, towards her class.

_'One, two three...one, two,three...' _Natsuki counted the steps that she had to ascend in order to get up there. Counting was a trick to keep her mind occupied with something else than the insane hotness and danger inside that place.

She was finally there, and to her relief the class was still intact. She tried to open the door, but it was stuck. A few more tries of insisting and she was finally convinced that this was going to knob was actually broken. She stayed there, thinking very hard about a way that she could get inside. The girl noticed that she was sweating even more by each passing moment, which meant that the temperature was increasing even more alongside with the flames.

"This better work...o-otherwise..." her hand trembled at the thought of leaving the people inside there. The thought of the other girl that had saved the bluenette's life. No, she had to return that. She had to...

Natsuki took out her plastic identity card and put it between the door and the wall. It was a trick she had learned from Nao. But it only worked when the door wasn't locked, just stuck.

"Please be open, please be o-" Success.

Soon, the navy haired girl was faced with a very unpleasant sight. All of the people ,with the professor as well, that used to waited after her were laying on the floor unconcious. Natsuki could see why though. Most of them were probably chatting or even bored and were caught of guard with the fumes. In a matter of secods they would probably be dizzy and fell down loosing their senses. Natsuki was hoping that when she would open the door, the people inside would get out as soon as possible, thanking her later for saving them. But no...They actually had no idea was was going on. It seemed as if they were sleeping. Despite some of them being jerks to Natsuki, she felt bad and guilty. It was obvious she couldn't help them.

Her terrified eyes wandered around the room, while her vision was becoming really blurry. Even if she had that wet fabric on her face, it wouldn't keep all of the deadly gasses filtered. A slender figure was laying near the windows. The hair was messy and the silky face was smudged. It was actually sad watching Shizuru on this condition. But why would all of these emotions emerge at that moment...Why would Natsuki's heart shattered to pieces watching the girl as helpless as ever?

She remembered how she stopped talking with Shizuru. That guy Eliot, her jealous ex boyfriend. After Shizuru first dating that jerk, her behavior changed. She was acting out of her character, and sometimes even being rude to Natsuki for no reason. Realizing that the brunette's problems were only going to drag her down, Natsuki decided to cut her off for good. But now..she couldn't let her die. This was a difficult situation though, becuase savng her it meant that she would let the others behind. She could only manage to carry one person out of them all. There was no time for her to get up there for the rest. She had to choose...

Natsuki started coughing- a sign that there was no time. Her immediate pace led her to her choice. As quick as possible she grabbed the girl from the hands the arms, and using all of her physical power, she lifted the unconscious girl and placed her on her back. She looked at the rest of her classmates again as tears came out of her eyes. No one deserved this. Natural disasters happen, it not that anyone can control them. But still... that was heart shattering. Sad.

It took one minute to get out of the flaming building, carrying the girl on her shoulders. She was running as quick as possible, and a few times almost tripped. But they were outide now. Natsuki was coughing really loud, as if her body was desperately trying to inhale some oxygen. Her cheeks were red and flustered, and her body was covered withsweat and smoke. The bluennete looked down at the fainted girl. She put her hand on the brunette's wrist and sighed in relief when she heard the irregular beats of the girl's heart. The danger wasn't over though. They were in front of the flaming building. She had to keep moving.

The navy haired girl took the brunette on her shoulders again and she kept on moving away, as far as possible. The idea was to take Shizuru to the hospital, which was located near their Department, only about 8 minutes walking. Maybe twenty by carrying another person and stopping to regain some stamina. She had to do this. The easy way is not always the best. You can't let a person like that behind. Especially someone you used to know. Her vains popped and her eyes were burned by determination.

But suddenly, the most terrifing thing wasn't the fire, but...the silence? Why was everything so silent around them while a meteorite fell on the whole buidling that pu it on fire? The thought gave the girl a chilly sensation, despite the high temperatures near them...

_'I...I have to call her friends_' Natsuki realized that she couldn't do this alone. Of course she was aware that her relationship with Shizuru's friends was not the best, but she had to do this. She searched the girl's pockets. A hand tracing the front and then the back. It was there, and she sighed that she could finally keep the touching away of the girl's personal area.

_'Reito...'_ she dialed the number.

"S-Shizuru!" an upset man's voice immediately answered. "Wh-Where are you, we have no tim-"

"It's not her"

"Wh-What?! Who are you?" the guy asked trying to keep as composed as possible.

"Your friend is unconscious and I could really use some extra help here"

"Natsuki Kuga?"

"Yes that one...Listen, were near our Department's street. Shizuru is breathing but I can't carry her all by myself to the hospital. I think you should c-"

"I'm already on my way" he cut her before hanging up. Natsuki sighed on relief.

She placed the brunette on the side of the pavement near the street and then she sat next to the girl. After all of this time Shizuru finally moved a little. It seemed more like a sudden shake of her body rather than a concious move though. The navy haired girl felt that the brunette's body was very uncomfortable laying on the flat cement of the street. Sigh.

_'This is a matter of life, that's why I'll do this' _she told herself while taking the unconcious girl on her lap. Her face seemed so calm, yet she was in such a danger some minutes ago. Natsuki stroked some hair away from that pale face. She could hear the brunette's breath rate becoming more regular. That was a positive sign of improvement.

By taking a sharp breath of air, the crimson eyes half opened staring at the person in front of them. The bluenette didn't seem to notice the difference though. The chestnut haired girl felt the warm that was embracing her body on that familiar face she hadn't talk to for some while. Natsuki's eyes were still on the street, waiting for the help. As the crimson was looking at the face in front of her, it all seemed surreal. Some of these silky hair with a perfect blue color were landed on Shizuru's chest. It looked like they were shining, despite Natsuki's obvious upset state. Suddenly the emerald looked down and they met the crimson...

"An angel" Shizuru mumbled before passing out again.

"Wh-What did you say?! Can you hear me?" Natsuki tried to ask but the girl was back at her previous state like before.

A car parked on the other side of the road. Reito came out and headed towards the girls. Natsuki didn't really like him, but she knew that he was actually a nice guy, and well, she was really glad that he was going to help them.

"Here, help me get her to the car" the guy asked from the girl. She grabbed the unconscious girl from her left shoulder, while reito held her from the right as they got inside the car. Natsuki and Shizuru were both on the back seat.

As soon as they were settled, the dark haired guy, stepped on it.

"W-Wow...we don't want to be killed now!" the bluenette protested.

"You are just clueless aren't you?" he asked with a weird tone on face, while staring at her from the car's mirror. For some reason, that look gave her goosebumps all over her back.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Haven't you noticed?" he asked. The girl just let out a sound of worry as a responce. "The streets are unusually empty? Noone has yet to come on that big fire in our Department?"

"I've already noticed that! But what is it supposed-"

"They're busy..."

"Wh-who?"

"This mess is happening all over the city. I've learned about the meteorite fallin on our campus but it wasn't the only..."

"Do you mean that a lot of meteorites have fallen in the city?!" the bluenette asked, widening her eyes.

"Exactly." he replied on a calm tone as he kept on driving. "Were...were there other people on that building too?"

"Unfortunately" she replied, staring down at Shizuru. The brunette was sitting on her lap again.

"I see. It's unfortunate, but I guess I'm glad you saved Shizuru."

"D-Don't mention"

0~0

The three of the were out of the town, up on a hill. From there, someone could see the fires taking place on the city. Natsuki was staring at them for almost an hour, and it seemed like they had subsided a lot since the beggining. Shizuru was still sleeping inside the car.

Reito approached Natsuki and sat next to her.

"You know, all of this reminds me of a tale my grandma used to tell me..."he said to the spaced out girl.

"Which waaas...? she asked not really interested on listening a story at that point.

"Before long ago, there used to be the Element Masters. They were the ones that could control things like the earth, water,..."

"Fire, wind...yeah I'm aware of that." she cut him, trying to make the conversation pass as quick as possible.

"Right. They used to live in harmony between them and their elements. But another person, an envious one that was not entitled with the powers of an Element Master, tried to create the ultimate Element. The one that combined the powers of each element together, but without their weaknesses..."

"Now you tell me that they had weaknesses too?" Natsuki asked. This whole story seemed superficial to her, and she was wondering if Reito was just trying to break the awkward silence between them

"Exactly. He was going to make it happen by spreading discord between them, but soon the masters managed to unite their powers again. So he was exiled in a place no one would look for"

"And what do the fires have to do with this fairy tale of yours?" the navy haired girl asked almost sarcasm

"My grandma used to tell me that when he was going to finally set himself free, the sky would cry in red tears like fire as an indication. I guess this sudden meteorite shower reminded of this story."

"I see. An interesting tale, I have to admit. Now if you excuse me, how long do we have to stay here?" se asked a little irritaed.

"We can't right now. the road is blocked. I guess when the fires subside more, they will open it" the guy answered on a relaxed and kind tone.

Natsuki's eyes stared at the sky. It still had a pinch of red, but the biggest part was dark blue. The stars were clearly shining up high, as there weren't any clouds in there. Sigh. This was supposed to be a beautiful night with her friends.

**0-0**

Hey! So, I wasn't planning on realising this story, but here it is. I'm not actually sure if I want to continue this yet, as I'm more attached to my other story...

Any thought/view will be apreeciated, as it helps me see the story from a more objective point, rather than just ny own.

Take care!


End file.
